Reflection on the Poster Entrepreneur
Discuss about the Journal of Indian Management and Strategy.
Self-awareness is a crucial value in determining how a person is able to deal with different situations. Although it can be measured in different approaches, the general measure of enterprising tendency (GET) can be used to examine how well a person stacks up against its five dimensions. For me, the zeal to carry on with challenging tasks and finding a solution has been the greatest source of my achievements. Although dislike challenges that stretch my abilities to the limits, thinking more about the future provided assists me registering achievements in the more challenging task. The drive is a critical element of an enterprising tendency, I am usually motivated by the surrounding environment. The desire to live in an upright society and be useful to the community sums up my greatest drives that have made it possible for me to be a risk taker in both business and work.
None the less my creativity levels are still wanting according to the results of the survey (with a total of 4 out of 12). This has been occasioned by the liking of working under a superior for mentorship purposes that are in-line with my desires. However, the creativity level varies according to the matter in discussion. As for the desire for autonomy, I can affirm that it’s at a moderate level. This is occasioned by the desire to follow guidelines from an experienced person. However, my zeal for risking has slowly improved my desire for autonomy. Lastly, my internal locus control is high and I could attribute it to a strong personality that is possessed. Particularly, decisions that have impacts in my professional and business life are carefully evaluated before making a choice.
Based on the survey it is apparent that I need to improve my creativity and develop a strong desire for autonomy. These two deficient might have been occasioned my past upbringing which entailed following parental instructions without questioning. Furthermore, I have not managed to get fully exposed to real-life situations that requires tuff choices and involves huge risks.
From the scores on the survey with a general score of 24, it is apparent that my general enterprising tendency is still low. This closely links up with my introversion personality which involves holding close a detail-oriented approach to everything I undertake. For this reason, I can describe myself as a thoughtful individual who keenly pays attention to information at hand to make decisions.
The rationale for choosing this company
In essence, I am an idea creator. However, without proper guidelines and motives, I may not be able to accomplish them with the magnitudes intended. For this reason, when joining any team I always bring with my ideas, strategies or entrepreneurial knowledge. From experience running my parent’s business for more than a year, I have mastered the art of turning opportunities into real profitable ventures. Furthermore, my quality of being a risk taker and a thoughtful person are also experiences that I can bring onboard in a team. As a hipster, I believe that such skills are essential in running an entrepreneurial venture at any given point.
Ted Turner the founder of a world-class news broadcasting station Cable News Network (CNN) inspires my desires to be a successful entrepreneur. Born and raised in the United States, he faced challenges in life including disagreeing with the father due to the choice of career he wanted, naval officer, and what the parent wished he could do, economics. After being expelled from Brown University, he was employed as a sale person by his father who by then owned Turner Advertising Company. Due to his zeal to prove his creativity and zeal to his parents, he becomes the best sale representative for the company, making his father award him a general manager role at their Macon, Georgia operations (“Ted Turner”, 2008).
The success of Ted came after his father commits suicide due to accumulating debts that threaten the existence of the company. After reviving his father’s company, he shifted his focus to media and purchased an ailing television station Channel 17. With time, his entrepreneurial skill, risk-taking capabilities and commitment to purpose saw him develop into a prominent entrepreneur in the media business. By the time he started his entrepreneurial activities, the economic condition of the United States was wanting. Coupled with his belief and philosophy that all super achievers are motivated by instincts and a sense of security, Ted was able to prosper to a degree of becoming the first entrepreneur in the US to develop a “superstation”, WTBS.
Ideally, Ted was driven by the opportunities and loopholes in the media industry. Although he personally had a passion for excellence, his risk-taking behaviours of investing in the projects and hoping for a future change in the trends in the market paid off handsomely. It is the improvised approaches to media which Ted used that ensured he obtains success. In essence, his social abilities led to him funding the United Nations to a tune of $1 billion. For entrepreneurs, such social motivations are vital in shaping how the consumers perceive the business (Pandey, 2016).
Personally, I chose this entrepreneur due to the nature in which he handles his business and the zeal to expand amidst uncertainty in the industry. Among the many motivational inspirations, I draw from the entrepreneur is how he changed his attitude towards being a navy officer to a successful businessman that owns one of the most reckoned media houses. Although there was a setback on his journey to success, it was his commitment to achieving his set goals and leadership skills that saw him revive an almost collapsing television station to a global news media house. Furthermore, the desire of the Ted to invest in any available opportunity with a promising future return intrigues me a lot.
Additionally, the philanthropic acts of the entrepreneur that saw the formation of United Nation Foundation is a special quality that makes him portray a sense of emotional attachment to the society and the challenges it faces. This is one of the greatest virtues of Ted that has inspired my desire to be at some point a successful business mogul and give back to the society accordingly. Lastly, the strategies employed by the Ted to utilize any available opportunities for business motives me to be a sound, active and an opportunist as an entrepreneur.
After Ted’s father passed on and him taking over the business, an advertising company, he literally helped it get from its knees. Three years later he started buying Southern radio stations which he later sold and purchased Channel 17, a television station. With time the business has expanded to a magnitude of capturing a significant share in the international media industry under the company label Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc. Under this label, Ted has CNN, TNT, Brut Productions and MGM/AU Entertainment among other affiliated media businesses. The mission of the company is to hold a great compassion and be of service to others. Since its establishment, the company has continuously been improving from a mere $700 000 value to a current valuation of $2.3 billion. The company has always been praised for exemplary employee relations as well as a caring culture that seeks to impact the society positively (“Ted Turner”, 2008).
CNN defines the real-time updates of what is going on in the world. For this reason, the company under the label of TBS has successfully changed the approach to which global news reaches people in real-time. The inspiration of the company to me does not only stop at the aspects of disseminating international happenings but also extends to the philanthropic acts the company is undertaking in the society through the United Nations Foundation. From the company, I would emulate several aspects. First, the diversification of services offered/product line to maximize profits and utilization of resources. Second, the act of the company merging with even bigger companies to achieve economies of scale and brand recognition. Lastly, I would emulate its social responsibilities and an exemplary employee relation as well as organizational culture. These aspects are essential for sustainable entrepreneurial ventures, thus stemming the reasons why I would emulate and implement them.
Based on the BMC of Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc., all the building blocks of the canvas have been critically established to ensure there is consistency in the business and it stays sustainable in the market. Customer segments are categorized into three broad groups. The company focuses on the US citizens, the international audience and companies in movie and film production. Furthermore, the focus on companies in need of running adverts on its major channels is also gaining momentum. In terms of value proposition, the company has developed real-time update forums for those unable to be always connected to their televisions. Those forums are majorly social in nature and involve either online streaming or interaction with the company’s staff.
To reach the customers, TBS focuses on primarily social media platforms and other social events organised or sponsored by the company. For instance, while airing sports on Turner Sport, the audience are able to interact with the commentators in real time from the broadcasting place. In customer relationships, the company has opted to engage social platforms to offer personal assistance to the consumers. Furthermore, self and automated services are offered through live streaming. As a result, the consumers leave feedback for the company at their streaming sites and social media platforms. For revenue streams, the primary source is subscription rights by multiple broadcasters as well as running adverts for various organizations and companies. Furthermore, the affiliated programs to the company’s business generate a considerable amount of revenue.
The key activities of the company are ensuring the audiences receive real-time news updates, information about various products as advertised as well as coverage of sports action at different times. Further, it offers cable and satellite TV coverage and has engaged in film productions and airing, through its affiliate partners (“Ted Turner”, 2008). Among the key partners of the company includes Time Warner, Universal Wrestling Corporation, New Line Cinema, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Cable Music Channel, Atlanta Thrashers and Sports South. These partners have been essential in the growth and development of TBS under the leadership of Ted Turner and other managers. As for resources, the company primarily relies on its employees at different levels and department to maintain and sustain the company’s corporate culture and activities. Lastly, the cost structure of the company is diversified depending on the services being offered by some of its subsidiaries. Majorly, maintenance and administrative costs top in their structure. Generally, the company used a simple business model pattern that included coordination of all its activities to achieve a set purpose.
Based on the SWOT analysis performance of the BMC of the company, it is apparent that its strengths are based on leadership, customer segments, and creativity within the company. Innovations and a wide customer segment have been great factors that have ensured that the company performs optimally in the global and local markets. Furthermore, opportunities such as potential growth in digital advertisement and possibility of mergers and acquisitions present significant advantages to TBS. If the company opts to further expansion into the market, these opportunities can be used as stepping stones for the achievement.
However, increasing completion and tightening of communication regulations are the greatest threats to the business model of the company. They limit the content the company can share, air or stream on their various media platforms, thus reducing the overall income from the services. Additionally, weaknesses such as poor infrastructure in developing economies have limited the penetration of services offered by TBS subsidiaries across the world. Furthermore, the limited coverage of some media stations owned by the company presents a challenge to the entire business model. Nevertheless, TBS has managed to sustain its business in the media industry despite selling off some of its assets to various companies and forming partnerships.
In improving the company’s business model through blue ocean strategy, a five-step approach can be used. First, choosing the right place to commence the business and constructing the blue ocean team will precede all the changes. Second, getting clear about the present state of the market conditions will follow. Third, revealing the hidden factors that have limited the size of the company will also be undertaken. Fourth, a systematic reconstruction of the segments in the market will follow. This gives the opportunity to include all potential segments of the market (Denning, 2017). Lastly, an appropriate blue ocean move will be adapted and used to carry out tests in the market to prove its feasibility and authenticity. In the long run, the new canvas will include all the original components of the model but with an addition of new key performance indicators and areas.
The entire course has been interesting and full of beneficial insights on how to manage an entrepreneurial skill and implement it to create a value proposition. Personally, I have mastered the art of developing value proposition which a key aspect of entrepreneurship and any business (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2013). In essence, I learned how to design a business model that includes all the components of a canvas as well as aligning it with the strategies in place. Furthermore, the course has sufficiently enlightened me on how best to innovate and convert the innovation to a feasible business model that can withstand the challenges in the market. All the processes have been clearly synthesized in the course providing an overall overview of entrepreneurship. To me, I did not find any information on the course to be less important to anyone wishing to be an entrepreneur in future.
A lot has changed since the first day of the course. With each concept covered in the course, I became more inclined to become an innovative entrepreneur who not only understands the market but also has self-discipline in business (Aulet, 2013). My perception on how an entrepreneur performs his/her duties has significantly changed owing to the insights given throughout the course on issues such as validating key assumptions, financial analysis, and evaluation (Aulet, 2013). For this reason, I have become more attracted to changing my entrepreneurial innovation skills to fit the market and value proposition I intend to provide to the customers. Essentially, the course was not just an academic undertaking but rather a personal enrichment medium for anyone who was keen on the insights presented throughout the course.
References
Aulet, B. (2013). Disciplined entrepreneurship. Canada: Wiley & Sons.
Denning, S. (2017). Moving to blue ocean strategy: A five-step process to make the shift. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2017/09/24/moving-to-blue-ocean-strategy-a-five-step-process-to-make-the-shift/#23d513bf7f11
Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2013). Business model generation. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Pandey, A. (2016). Social entrepreneurs: Their motivations, challenges, and contribution. JIMS8M: The Journal of Indian Management & Strategy, 21(2), 12. doi: 10.5958/0973-9343.2016.00010.7
Ted Turner. (2008). Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197562
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